Flourless Chocolate Cakes With Molten Centres - Recipe

It's been ages since I've posted any recipes.  Those who don't know the history behind this blog might wonder why the heck it's called fatboyrecipes.  If I could turn back the clock, I'd have named it FBBeats, cos that's what how it evolved.  "Victim" of the social media tsunami, swept into the frenzy of free eats, not a bad thing at all, but a disservice to the noble name with which this blog was originally intended for.

So, I resolve to post the occasional recipe.  As I mentioned on FB, sonny boy, who was but a toddler at the genesis of this blog, mentioned recently that I hadn't made flourless chocolate cakes in like forever.  This particular cakes evokes such memories, because in the early days of baking, it was always a hit, American friend Scott would plonk dollops of peanut butter, it was the cake du jour for a friend's 1st anniversary, it was also piled high as a birthday cake for another friend.  But over the years, I thought that molten centre thing was a thing of the past, and very yesterday, but classics do seem to remain classics, and I see it's always still a popular dessert wherever it's served.

There are two main types of chocolate cakes with molten centres, one that requires skill, and perfect timing, (because the batter forms part of the lava, and overcooking means the batter will turn into cake), or the skill-less idiot proof method, which by virtue of my lack of skill, I tend to favour.

So here goes the recipe:

Prepare ahead:
Frozen Ganache
100gm couverture dark chocolate
100gm whipping cream (dairy please, none of that non dairy rubbish)
Heat whipping cream in a pot, until just about bubbling, pour onto chopped chocolate, let sit until chocolate has melted, and stir to finish.
When cooled, freeze.  You can actually use an ice cube tray to freeze, you want roughly the qty of a large longan per cake.  Recipe makes 12


Flourless Cakes
180 gm butter
220 gm good quality chocolate
½ - ¾ cup sugar, depending on the sweetness level you require

Melt the above...I just zap in a microwave for about 1½ minutes

¾ cup ground almond
1 cup good quality cocoa powder
5 eggs

Mix the melted butter mixture to the almond and cocoa powder.  Whisk in the eggs one at a time.  Don't worry if your batter looks rougher than a teenager with bad acne, as you add the eggs, it will get smoother, and by the fifth egg, it should be a glorious glossy batter.

Prepare a muffin pan, greased, or lined with cupcake paper.

Pour 1/3 rd cup batter into each hole.  Pop in a frozen ganache (the size of a large longan, or if you didnt use an ice cube tray, then just cut a 1" sq cube) and top up with more batter until fully covered.

Bake at 160C for about 12 minutes, until the batter is cooked.  To check this, text the sides, not the centre, because, hallo, the centres are molten.

Serve to impress.....